Topic: Samsung LE40B650 Review

[Vincent]

Please discuss our Samsung LE40B650 review article in this forum thread.

Warmest regards
Vincent

[Blackburn4717537]

Thanks for the excellent review, Vincent!

What was the measured contrast (calibrated) on a chest pattern?

[Mike-Boy]

How about handling of Favourite list and EPG, are those features ok?
See my my complaint to Samsung of LE-40A866S1 (Nordic). Now this TV is returned (after a battle) and I’m searching
a new one. Could it be LE40B650?


I have brand new LE-40A866S1. The design is very nice and quality of the picture is brilliant.
But, then I met something which made me very disappointed, even fooled:

1.   There is no direct entry to Favourite list, as exists up to 7-series.
        The button as used to has got new function.  Also editing feature of Favourite list is removed. These features
        have the first order of importance on having several hundreds of channels. Handling of Favourite list only by
        +/- button is not acceptable solution. This means a need to keep a list of favourite cannel numbers on the
        table and use number buttons on channel changing. 

        The Favourite list itself is very nice and very useful with program info, but the entry to this list is behind 
        several menu selections and therefore useless.

2.   EPG does not follow the Favourite list.
        All channels appear in order of cable operator which makes this feature useless. Check of info of top favourites
        is in practise impossible by +/- button, if those channels have a high order number by cable operator.

        Also program info feature on channel changing is missing.

3.   Power consumption in standby mode.
        On the specs stands "less than 1 W", but in true it is a round 3 W. On the same specs stands also "eco flower"
        certificate. This makes perplexed.
        More confusing makes an article on "digitoday" on 12-MAR-09: "EU refuses all digiboxes with higher
        consumption than 1 W in standby mode since next February and higher than 0,5 W in three years".

4.   A quality problem (noisy cooling fan which works 24 hours/day).
        I made a complaint immediately (less than one week from purchasing) and a service was done by dealer, but
        no help. I demanded DOA replacement, but it was refused and I was forced by Samsung Finland to let my TV
        set to send to service. I am still without TV since two weeks ago!

The first item is the most important. The way how it works now, is unbearable. I bought this product also to
get out digibox, but I went wrong. I can’t recommend this product to anyone until the problems are fixed. Just imagine my feelings I thought I was buying a high end product – and what I’ve got!

A proposal: As a "first aid" on item 1, please do immediately a software update where the button on remote control, mostly called as "OK", opens the Favourite list. Now this button has no function in normally TV mode. This shouldn’t be a large change and it would do a lot of help!

[scarlet]

with all these extra twiggly bits and price is the le40b650 worth paying the extra for compared against the lea650 if i only watch freeview? i want the better freeview picture. scarlet

[Aryudsoh]

The input lag is the only thing that keeps me from buying.

I read about this workaround on the cnet forums:

The Fix:
1. Connect your PS3 using HDMI Input 2.
2. SELECT or RENAME the HDMI Input to PC.
3. On the PS3 start-up menu go to Settings---> Display ---->
Choose HDMI ----> DO NOT choose AUTOMATIC ----> SELECT CUSTOM ----->
4. Now, Select all the Resolution options EXCEPT 720p. This will force your games into 1080p mode.
5. Save and complete the display setup.
6. Turn off the PS3. Turn off the TV.
7. Turn on the TV. Turn on the PS3.
8. Complete! (Lag eliminated). Please spread this around!

*The key to eliminating ALL LAG is modern LCD's need to be in PC MODE (NOT GAME MODE) and the Source MUST BE IN 1080p so that the TV can use it's NATIVE RESOLUTION.*


Can someone confirm that this actually works?

[Prowse]

Surely this is just the same as putting the TV into game mode, once you've forced your games into 1080p?

Same issue for me:  I've decided on Samsung or Sony.  Sony have the backlight clouding issue, Samsung have the input lag issue.  I'm just trying to get the best 46" screen for my money (<>£1,200). 

[Aryudsoh]

I'm not sure whether it's the same or not that's why I was asking.

The Sony 40KDLW5500 or Samsung LE40B650 for me.  The clouding issue puts me off the Sony the most.  As for the input lag, according to the reviews, both models have roughly the same lag in Game mode so if that's all that's putting you off go for the Samsung (unless you're talking about the W4500).

Me, I'm going to check out Richer Sounds and compare the picture quality of both sets to help me decide.

[Prowse]

Yep, just need to get myself down and see for myself.  i must admit, if I could get a great deal on a 4500 Sony, then that would probably sway me as the W5500 now has a higher input lag and the colour from the backlight is not as accurate.

Choices, choices...

...and it's a shame that Samsung have gone for the LED edge lighting rather than the LED panels they were previously using.  I'd rather have a great picture than the screen being super-thin.  Apparently the new edge lighting has intruduced some clouding, which puts them on-par with Sony in the back-lighting game.   

[StevieG]

On the back of your reviews I was going for the 40a686. I checked the John Lewis website(selling at £799 - went up £100 in last couple of months) but they were still out of stock. I spotted these 40b650's were new in , but a fair bit more at £1099. They had slipped under the radar a bit, and not much on the net about their imminent release, only the new LED's. After reading your review and seeing it in action, but also JL willing to price match (£869 with 5yr warranty) I will be collecting it next week. Get in ! Keep up the good work. I'll be crossing your palms with silver.

ps. Will you have the settings for this in the near future ? Thanks

[Tekky**]

Hi

Great review made me buy it

The pictures is awesome. But I do have two problems.:

- I'm not able to install Internet@TV correctly. It only shows the youtube widget, no new, no weather etc. I also don't know where to put in my yahoo user account

- I use DLNA to stream to the Media Player, but it play virtually no files. I tried .mkv, .avi with codes such as H.264, Xvid, but all I get is media format not supported

Does anybody have a solution to my problems or experiencing the same problems?

[flautash]

@tekky**

i have the exactly opposite situation here. all widgets working on my B650 except for youtube!

maybe a firmware issue? or a country-related? any fix for this?

[flautash]

- I use DLNA to stream to the Media Player, but it play virtually no files. I tried .mkv, .avi with codes such as H.264, Xvid, but all I get is media format not supported

Does anybody have a solution to my problems or experiencing the same problems?

You need to install and start the samsung pc share manager. allow the program time to scan the folders you designate for sharing. after that, it is flawless. i have just streamed mkv 720p flawlesly.

[David S]

Would it be possible for the reviewer to post the calibrated settings please?
I know that all displays vary slightly, but I thought it would be a good starting point.

Thanks

[Cadvan]

Hi and many thanks for an outstanding review.

I am very keen to buy this TV but I would like to know more about what you might call the "Samsung Hum".

Is this a real issue or not? Is this particular TV better than others or worse?

I'd be most grateful for any advice from the members before parting with my hard-earned.

Many thanks

Cadvan

[David Robinson]

Many thanks Vincent for the informative review. It's so refreshing to have proper technical measurements rather than the usual vague statements like 'colour was warm and vibrant'. So good in fact that I bought the set (46")!

The Motion Plus function is awesome. Unlike Vincent I'm not a fan of juddery film motion, or even worse, filmic effect applied to video. High Definition should mean high resolution in all 3 directions - horizontal, vertical and temporal! I have Motion Plus wound up to the maximum and the effect is incredibly lifelike. As for video material, I had assumed that motion at 50Hz is so good that Motion Plus wouldn't be any improvement. I was wrong.

My set did have a bad grey scale tracking error out of the box. This was easily corrected using the White Balance menu, but it should have been right in the first place.

2 major gripes, first of all there is no auto widescreen switching via HDMI (and yes I have checked my Sky HD box into another TV and it works) and it's a terrible faff to change it manually. This makes browsing the music channels on Sky a bit of a pain. Secondly there is a non-adjustable 3% overscan on SD. I am totally baffled as to why anyone would want overscan on an LCD/plasma. Answers on a postcard please. For both these reasons my DVDO scaler, which I thought I would be able to sell off, remains in faithful service and the TV is permanently fed at 1080P.

In answer to Cadvan, my set emits no noise whatsoever.

I haven't tried the internet access stuff, I have a PC to do that.

To start the ball rolling, here are the settings I ended up with. I'm not quite convinced by all these optons, all I need is a TV that faithfully shows what is fed to it.

Mode: Standard
Backlight: 3
Contrast: 100
Brightness: 50
Sharpness: 50
Colour: 45
Tint: 50/50

Advanced settings

Black Tone: off
Dynamic Contrast: off
Gamma: 0
Colour Space: auto
Flesh Tone: 0
Edge Enhancement: off

Picture Options

Colour Tone: normal
Size: screen fit
Digital NR: off
HDMI Black Level: normal
100Hz Motion Plus: Custom (Blur: 10, Judder: 10)

To clarify why I set the Contrast to 100 - my theory is that the Contrast and Backlight adjustments effectively do the same thing. By setting the Contrast to max and then adjusting the backlight to taste, I use the full dynamic range of the display - provided of course that the whites don't clip, which they don't.

As for sound, I don't feed it through the TV at all. I find an audio delay of 50ms (2 frames) on the scaler is suitable. This is of course a good thing - more delay through the TV indicates more sophisticated processing.

One question Vincent - what equipment do you use for the colorimetry calibration?